Andean medicinal plants in 2020

The project’s fundamental objective was to establish a vision of the future and the route to the production and marketing of products manufactured from medicinal plants, as well as the introduction of new ones, which will foster the economic and social development of the Andean region

The other objectives include:

Facilitating the development of the region’s economy by increasing and modernizing the production of medicinal plants.

Establishing an information network covering all the region’s initiatives, programmes and activities, constituting a source of information and knowledge and serving as a centre for exchanges of experience.

Reinforcing the cooperation and communication among the officials responsible for overseeing the production and marketing of products made from medicinal plants and the introduction of new ones.

The concept of the “value chain” of the national and regional medicinal and nutraceutical plants sector, covering all the stages, from gathering through processing to sale to the end user was used in this exercise.

Methodology of the project consisted of the following steps:

Study of the current situation

Establishment of the Visions of the future and the objectives

Identification of obstacles

Determination of measures, agents and technologies

The main outputs of the project include:

Realization of the Visions and the execution of the measures at the regional level through establishing a permanent organization responsible for building up capacity and offering specific proposals for the region’s economic and social development on the basis of the integration and modernization of the value chain.

Profound restructuring of the national and regional production complex, from gathering and harvesting, through modernization of industry by introducing appropriate technology, to improvement of the distribution chain

The three countries request UNIDO to prepare a proposal for a regional project to advance the execution of the agreed Regional Road Map. The project should contain concrete and realistic tasks, with very specific time frames and with sufficient detail to facilitate decision-making and investment.